HbA1c, a measure of mean blood glucose over the lifespan of a red blood cell (RBC), is a
marker of increasing importance both for assessing glycemic control in children with known
diabetes and for the diagnosis of diabetes in children. HbA1c has demonstrated poor
reliability in diagnosis and management of pediatric diabetes and the most plausible reason
for this unreliability is that the reference ranges of HbA1c were established based on
120-day RBC lifespan observed in adults, without considering the RBC lifespan difference
between children and adults. The proposed studies will for the first time determine RBC
lifespan in diabetic children